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GMOA temporarily calls off strike, gives Govt. until Jan 3 to resolve demands
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) temporarily called off its island-wide strike on Friday, giving the Health Ministry until January 3 to provide solutions to seven key demands. The association warned it would resort to trade union action again if those demands were not met by that date.
The island-wide strike, which lasted four days, severely affected services at most state-run hospitals and medical institutions. The GMOA launched the strike from 8 a.m.on Tuesday (21) citing failure by health authorities to meet seven of its key demands.
The main demands made by the GMOA include publishing the annual transfer list of Specialist Grade Medical Officers (Consultants) without Consultant Transfer Board concurrance, publishing of Post-Intern placement list without concurance of Grade Medical Officers’ Transfer Board.
The GMOA has also demanded that the Government implement a Cabinet decision with regard to rectifying “ad-hoc amendments” made to the Medical Service Minute during the tenure of former Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne.
Other issues related to the island-wide strike include failure to gazette Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) election regulations, with the union demanding that steps be taken to hold the SLMC election without further delay. The GMOA is further unhappy over what it claims is the failure on the part of the Government to rectify salary anomalies created in violation of National Wage Policy and failure to revise and provide “due privileges” to doctors.
Addressing a media briefing on Friday evening, GMOA Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando said that during discussions with GMOA representatives, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had asked for 24 hours to respond to their demands. Accordingly, a letter signed by the Director General of Health Services had been sent on Thursday outlining the Health Ministry’s solutions to the seven issues brought up by the GMOA.
A GMOA Central Committee meeting called at 10 a.m. on Friday to discuss the Health Ministry’s letter lasted for six hours, with members being present physically as well as virtually via Zoom.
Addressing the media after the meeting, GMOA Secretary Dr Senal Fernando said the Central Committee had observed that the letter showed “administrative weaknesses” of the Health Ministry in that it had outlined vague solutions without offering specific timelines on when those solutions will be implemented.
“We are not prepared to give the Health Ministry an indefinite period to resolve these issues. We are calling off our strike temporarily on account of the people who are celebrating the holiday season. We will give the Health Ministry until January 3 to resolve these issues. Another Central Committee meeting will be convened on January 3 to discuss the matter and if we feel that no progress has been made on our demands, we will resort to even more stringent trade union action,” he warned.
The GMOA Secretary claimed the letter sent by the Health Ministry showed that there had been “political interference” in the transfer list of Consultants and the Post-Intern placement list.
At a media briefing at his ministry however, Minister Rambukwella strongly denied there had ever been any political interference regarding the transfer and placement lists. He claimed that the ministry could not bow to some of the GMOA’s demands as that would mean the Government would have to do the same to trade unions in other sectors who could make similar demands.
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